State Rejects Koh's Request For Recount In Lowell

BOSTON, MA -- Dan Koh was dealt a setback Thursday in the ongoing saga to determine a winner of the Sept. 4 Democratic primary for U.S. Representative from the 3rd Congressional District. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said the recount of votes in Lowell would proceed as scheduled on Sunday. Koh, of Andover, had wanted the recount delayed until after the completion of an investigation of Lowell's election process.

Koh trails Lori Trahan of Lowell by 122 votes in the race, which had ten candidates vying to be the Democratic nominee to succeed Rep. Nikki Tsongas (D-Lowell). The winner will face Republican Rick Green of Pepperell and unaffiliated candidate Mike Mullen of Maynard in the general election in November.

In a letter to Galvin, Koh's campaign questioned the integrity of the voting process in Lowell, including extreme heat that cause many of Lowell's 20-year-old voting machines to fail on the day of the primary. The letter also claimed Lowell election officials violated state law in securing ballots and that there were discrepancies between the number of ballots and the check-ins at polling places in several precincts.

"In short, from what has been learned since we petitioned for a recount, we are gravely concerned about the credibility of the Lowell election results," the letter said.

Recounts in Methuen and some other municipalities in the district were scheduled to get underway on Thursday. Since the request for the recount, Galvin's office has taken direct control of the election offices in Lawrence and Lowell because of inexperienced election staff in Lawrence and errors in the processing of ballots and the tallying of state primary results in Lowell.

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Patch file photo via Shutterstock.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).